I strongly believe consumer culture is so strong based on the fact we as humans are incapable of feeling completely content and fulfilled with life, and are always trying to fill an intangible void. When we break it down, our existence is quite pointless. We’re born, maybe have children, bumble around for a bit, then die. When I properly realised this, I became happier, because it gave me the freedom to do more of what I wanted and care less about the need to ‘hustle’ more. I agree with every point you’re making and I am equally surprised this topic isn’t discussed more.
Yes! Pointless but at the same time, amazing, because the alternative would be, not experiencing everything we have experienced? It's a crazy thought to me, and makes me appreciate the series of cosmic conditions that allow me the ability to bumble around 😁
Haha well maybe it's by reaching the depths and exploring for ahwhile down there, that we also gain valuable knowledge and understanding that as you said, can bring a sort of relief after all!
When I was about 7 years old I begged my father for some type of toy like I typically did at that age. The difference was around this time he had just gotten out of a rehab center and told me something that stuck and nagged on my mind basically ever since. He told me something like "if I buy you this toy now, it won't make you any happier overall, you'll forget about it in a week and want something new because it's never enough and things will never make you happy. If I had known that at your age, everything would be different." I insisted he was wrong and of course this was the last toy or object I'd ever want and he bought whatever it was for me and about a month later he asked me about it as I was unboxing a new toy he'd gifted me and of course, I realized the lesson because I had no idea where the toy I was given earlier was and had forgotten about it already. Despite knowing from this time onwards that buying things does not equal happiness or achieve much more than some temporary excitement, it's still hard for me to stop wanting things. I always thought it was because from a young age I've had an addictive personality (which runs in the family) but the older I get the more it seems like a human predicament most of us face. Even knowing how pointless it is to chase happiness with purchases, many of us can't seem to stop. It absolutely feels existential.
This is a powerful story! I think it's a human predicament, yes, but the more I read and observe the more I think we have set ourselves up with an environment that enables these things. If humans didn't make fast fashion and ultra-processed food, and even plastic toys - we wouldn't have them available to "want". They don't exist in nature. Are our lives really better for some of these "developments"? Of course we can't pick and choose what products get to be made, but navigating the true "improvement products" as another commenter mentioned, refrigerators, hot showers) vs. the stuff someone invented in order to make money, I'm finding to be more and more difficult.
I see it in a slightly different way I think we are wired to seek and find connection with ourselves, with others, with nature, with God And we live a life where we are disconnected from these things-there is a declining emphasis on religion or spirituality, we live removed from nature, we no longer live in close knit communities and we live such busy lives that there is not a lot of room or value placed on solitary contemplation In the absence of these essential connections we feel empty and unfulfilled, and I think all sorts of addictions-smoking, drinking, consumerism-are desperate and misguided ways of filling those needs
Thanks for sharing! I'm not sure that this is actually much different from how I see it, because I agree! Although I'm not sure how I made it seem in this video. Perhaps I was focusing first on the "connection with ourselves" aspect, I think I did touch on how organized religion is declining and think that this kind of ritualistic connection, has been replaced by trying to connect through shared consumerism and/or other addictions. I also think the "loneliness epidemic" aspect has been widely discussed on youtube, how Americans especially are living increasingly isolated, car-dependent lives with no "third places" - so perhaps that's another reason I may not have made that the focus here. But regardless I'm sure this is just the beginning of this investigation!
I have yet to finish the Johann Hari book that I'm working on but if I remember correctly, Robert Lustig also has "connect" as one of his 4 c's of happiness as well!
Yes, I identify with this a lot! I need to start meditating again because it helped me to confront and ultimately enjoy the "nothingness" instead of trying to fill it up with stuff. Thanks for putting these ideas out clearly and relateably. I'll check out Positive Wonder too...
This might be your best video (yet). It’s so spot on. I’ve talked about this briefly with a very good friend of mine not long ago… how we use shopping as one of our coping mechanisms in regards to existencial crisis, hopelessness about the future and opressive capitalism (this doesn’t even make much sense, but oh, well). And I came to the conclusion that this coping mechanism is almost as detrimental as drugs and other forms of physical harm.
I love exploring my existential dread so thank you for this video! I do find myself consuming more (shopping, youtube, or food) whenever im mentally struggling. Eventhough i know it won't fix the problem, i still find myself indulging in these habits 😂
Checked back in. And glad I did! This one is just plain profound! Moving ever closer but with supreme deliberation from simple but important ideas to more and more deep and consuming( ha! ha! 🙄) ones!
I think about death and experience existential dread multiple times a day and am so glad you're touching on this. One of my urges to consume comes from the fear of my loss of youth, which in my opinion is a form of death: the death of my young self. Ie. Won't I, at 70, regret not having worn cute clothes while my body is healthy and young and still traditionally beautiful? Thankfully nowadays I'm trying to do so in a sustainable way, but I still struggle with FOMO.
This is interesting! What I hear more commonly expressed as a regret of that nature, is regretting feeling like you "couldn't" wear something or do something because of some insecurity or fear of judgement when younger, because when we are older we realize we looked great and if others don't like it it's their problem. So my approach is that as long as we aren't holding ourselves back, we aren't going to be lacking. Also honestly at 70 I picture myself having much the same style as I do today, maybe that's just a "me" thing since a lot of my clothes are fairly shapeless, but I do imagine that I will still want to look "cute" when I'm 70, too!
Great video, so interesting to hear your though process on this so-very-broad topic. I agree with a lot you have to say, and I definitely agree that this is a difficult time, a time where a lot of people no doubt are feeling a sort of existential crisis. And for decades in the West consumerism has been promoted and adopted as a way to make us feel a little better about our lives. (And make no mistake, much of what we consume *has* made our lives better, sometimes immesurably so. Refrigerators! Hot showers! Modern life is amazing in so many ways, so we don't want to turn our backs on "stuff", but like you said, we can't expect that stuff to fill every psychological void and ease every psychological tension that we have.
Absolutely! There's all sorts of questions about where to reasonably draw the line, what kinds of human advancements might be "good or bad" - refrigerators and hot showers, yes! Why eschew those? Modern medicine, yes, although some will disagree with that, I think it has opened up a wealth of positive choice for humanity. Space travel, sure, seems like that will be necessary, and is fascinating to gather more info about where we live. Smartphones, cars, social media...? Kind of? We can't live without many of their features these days but they've brought a new landscape that's hard to navigate without being swept up one way or another (time, consumerism, judgement, environmental consequence, etc) - and then it has also led to the manufacture of products that arguably no one actually needs, but since they exist, you can't tell anyone they're not allowed to buy (looking at stuff like stanley cup accessories, which present on social media like some kind of Barbie for adults, or anything that's so cheap that it becomes a single-use product even though it's not meant to be, like fast fashion, or some decor).
Wow this video goes really deep. It does make a lot of sense but there must be more to it. We are missing something that is over shadowed by consumerism.
Yes! I feel like this is a tip-of-the-iceberg kind of chat, I might have to be further removed from consumer culture myself (more than just a year of consciously trying and observing) to get to more of the full story...but I'm committed to the path!
Wow! Brilliant 🤯🤯🤯 This is such a fabulous episode - wowowowow ! You should also have a podcast and talk about and to people exploring these questions - or just talk to regular everyday pople about it (not the slick dudes who are ‘thought leaders’ 🤢 trying to sell you things) LOVE this episode!
Thank you! I'm thinking about re-organizing the channel and releasing one of the weekly videos in podcast form next year - definitely don't have the know-how to work with guests remotely yet, but it's all a learning curve so you never know! I could look into cornering some everyday people with questions about consumerism, that would actually be super interesting 👀
Sadly, I tend to the extreme side of existential crisis. Due to depression, I often feel an inherent sense of meaningless anyway. But this must not necessarily be only a bad thing. It also touches the things you talk about in your videos. I am not someone who hustles all the time. I also hate bucket lists. Because as you said, of course I want to do certain things and it is nice - but it doesn't define my self worth if it doesn't happen. I used to put so much pressure on myself to achieve certain things (or even to want things others my age want), but now I think that some things don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Yes! I think pursuit of contentment in spite of possible meaningless, IS one of the good things that comes from exploring these kinds of crisis mentalities, or one of the ways we can gain perspective amidst all the "noise" that surrounds us in society
Brilliant, as always, thank you! I wonder if the convenience of modern living is also contributing to our Existential dread because it leaves us feeling so removed from the earth and the food that sustains us. I know that for me, it feels precarious to depend on something so far outside my locus of control. That might just be because I was raised by people that don't really trust the larger systems 😅
Yes! I suspect (partly from my time living in New Zealand) that being closer to nature does lead to greater happiness and a more laid-back culture. As I get older I feel more of the urges to grow my own food and etc...I think what you said about larger systems is interesting too, because it might also feel different if we got the sense that large corporations actually cared about those they serve, not just as a bottom line. If I believed Walmart or Amazon cared about my well being, shopping from those companies might feel mutually beneficial or a symbol of connection rather than total disconnect. I wonder if that's possible with any business past a certain size...
Yeah tbh becoming religious* has given me a peace of mind nothing else has been able to give me. And before I'd had a major existential crisis on vacation about that exact thing you were talking about, the "there is no point to life and everything will end up in eternal nothingness anyway." So the difference is really obvious to me. Even with religious differences causing so much of the pain and destruction throughout history it's plain to see that having a tight knit community of people with similar values in your life, along with a strong moral code that helps direct your life, is really beneficial. I've determined that my being religious is of inherent value whether or not G-d is real. *I'm still agnostic too but Judaism tends to put more value on action than faith!
I totally get this and what you said at the end is pretty powerful - whether one is religious or not - that being religious can have inherent value whether or not there is a "g-d"
I think you would enjoy the power of now by Eckhart Tolle. He talks about consumerism and how it fuels the ego and keeps us in clock time and disconnected from the source/ the now. Once we are connected with the now we are content and can use things without projecting a future self or hanging onto the past.
You are right! This is one of books I keep after having read, (I'm going to post a "book declutter" soon which will show-and-tell all that 👀) as it radically opened my perspective at the time of reading it years ago. I hadn't yet gone through my period of "overconsuming" that sparked this channel though, so maybe I need to give it a re-read!
It's a bit farfetched to take recourse to a general collective existential crisis, understood as a collective response to the meaninlessness of life, in order to explain the contemporary consumer landscape of demand for convient comfort through shopping, hoarding, sharing, obsessing over, etc., when there are much simpler explanations such as boredom, loneliness, fomo, unhappiness, isolation, despondency, illusions, affluence, cheap credit, targeted marketing, etc., that fulfill the same function. The quotation you shared, namely, comes from a very distinct ideology that is anti-scientific at its core: the scientific discovery/description/explanation for human behavior "will be so terrifying... that we will go mad from the revelation or flee into new darkness." Is scientific study of human life and behavior so daunting that it leaves us with only these two options? Scientific discovery and knowledge has helped us in many ways, and we need more science, not less of it. Knowledge and wisdom are not opposites.One can cultivate a life of contententment without bashing science.
I think I get your point, and luckily I'm not solely taking recourse to this, and I have discussed aspects like loneliness, boredom, fomo, etc. in previous (and future!) videos! Maybe part of the problem in communication here (if that's what your comment is indicating? apologies if I made an assumption here) is that I'm not at all familiar with the greater work of H.P. Lovecraft - an introductory biography I read said he was interested in science from a young age, so I wasn't alerted to the fact that his work was based in anti-scientific ideology or that to suggest that pursuing contentment in the face of realizing our own possible insignificance, had to be anti-scientific. I just found it to be a thought-provoking quote, not one I necessary believe to the letter. Let me also be clear here that I in no way intended to bash science, or suggest that we should not pursue further discoveries in the fields of both knowledge and wisdom! I will also be the first to admit, that I myself am neither wise nor particularly knowledgeable in general - I claim above-average knowledge in playing the viola and the workings of classical music, that's about it 😄
@@Alexas.nobuyyear One of the pitfalls of an eclectic approach is the tendency to take thoughts out of their original context and apply them to entirely different contexts. This elevates them by giving them the appearance of general validity. Lovecraft's conext is nineteenth-century mysticism with a fixation on horror as a method of escapism from reality. It doesn't provide a good answer to the question of why today's society exhibits such a need and demand for instant gratification.
@CS-ly3lx sure! I guess that's a general pitfall of my channel since it has a focus on reshaping my thoughts and attitudes towards consumerism/buying stuff, which means I've related almost everything I share to that regardless if that was the intended purpose of the thinking or literature (or even experiences in my life! Many of those are taken out of context too, in a way). In this case I had the thesis as an idea before I came across the quote, including the quote wasn't intended to provide an answer, or even validity to my idea that people experiencing existential dread or a lack of meaning in life, may turn to consumerist behaviors and a "yolo" attitude. I'm also not suggesting it's THE answer, just a possible facet for some people including myself. I also just saw another creator (Cara Nichole) do a video about "how consumerism and aesthetics are the new religion"...which is a similar concept even if I don't really agree with making the direct parallel to religion. The source video for the quote I felt like was interesting and provided a sense of acceptance to existential dread which is why I mentioned it, but once again even that video takes the quote out of context. Lesson learned, perhaps - I'll go read some Lovecraft before I share any more of his quotes!! 😊
Sorry! I guess I wasn't necessarily trying to offer comprehensive solutions in my initial exploration of this idea 😅- but allow me to offer some more in response here! So, self-pursuit of contentment is still a solution I'd consider, but additionally there are other things, like pursuing more connection to our home (Earth, nature) and the other people in our communities - connection, shared experience, getting closer to other aspects of humanity, finding a creative pursuit that we feel adds to the world, or even pursuing further knowledge and understanding in a field that interests you - for some people religion IS a solution as well!
I never thought I'd see an H.P. Lovecraft quote on this channel. Maybe there are some parallels to be drawn between hyperconsumerism and Shadow over Innsmouth!
I strongly believe consumer culture is so strong based on the fact we as humans are incapable of feeling completely content and fulfilled with life, and are always trying to fill an intangible void. When we break it down, our existence is quite pointless. We’re born, maybe have children, bumble around for a bit, then die. When I properly realised this, I became happier, because it gave me the freedom to do more of what I wanted and care less about the need to ‘hustle’ more. I agree with every point you’re making and I am equally surprised this topic isn’t discussed more.
Yes! Pointless but at the same time, amazing, because the alternative would be, not experiencing everything we have experienced? It's a crazy thought to me, and makes me appreciate the series of cosmic conditions that allow me the ability to bumble around 😁
My existential crisis is so deep by now, nothing I buy offers relief anymore. That helped me to stop buying. Which in its turn is a relief. 🙂
Haha well maybe it's by reaching the depths and exploring for ahwhile down there, that we also gain valuable knowledge and understanding that as you said, can bring a sort of relief after all!
That contentmenthelp product placement joke was just too good!! 😂😂😂 and sadly too accurate 😅
Spot on!
Loved it!
When I was about 7 years old I begged my father for some type of toy like I typically did at that age. The difference was around this time he had just gotten out of a rehab center and told me something that stuck and nagged on my mind basically ever since. He told me something like "if I buy you this toy now, it won't make you any happier overall, you'll forget about it in a week and want something new because it's never enough and things will never make you happy. If I had known that at your age, everything would be different." I insisted he was wrong and of course this was the last toy or object I'd ever want and he bought whatever it was for me and about a month later he asked me about it as I was unboxing a new toy he'd gifted me and of course, I realized the lesson because I had no idea where the toy I was given earlier was and had forgotten about it already. Despite knowing from this time onwards that buying things does not equal happiness or achieve much more than some temporary excitement, it's still hard for me to stop wanting things. I always thought it was because from a young age I've had an addictive personality (which runs in the family) but the older I get the more it seems like a human predicament most of us face. Even knowing how pointless it is to chase happiness with purchases, many of us can't seem to stop. It absolutely feels existential.
This is a powerful story! I think it's a human predicament, yes, but the more I read and observe the more I think we have set ourselves up with an environment that enables these things. If humans didn't make fast fashion and ultra-processed food, and even plastic toys - we wouldn't have them available to "want". They don't exist in nature. Are our lives really better for some of these "developments"?
Of course we can't pick and choose what products get to be made, but navigating the true "improvement products" as another commenter mentioned, refrigerators, hot showers) vs. the stuff someone invented in order to make money, I'm finding to be more and more difficult.
I see it in a slightly different way
I think we are wired to seek and find connection with ourselves, with others, with nature, with God
And we live a life where we are disconnected from these things-there is a declining emphasis on religion or spirituality, we live removed from nature, we no longer live in close knit communities and we live such busy lives that there is not a lot of room or value placed on solitary contemplation
In the absence of these essential connections we feel empty and unfulfilled, and I think all sorts of addictions-smoking, drinking, consumerism-are desperate and misguided ways of filling those needs
I agree completely. Johann Hari, who I so respect, said that recovery from addiction is not abstinence, it is connection.
Thanks for sharing! I'm not sure that this is actually much different from how I see it, because I agree! Although I'm not sure how I made it seem in this video. Perhaps I was focusing first on the "connection with ourselves" aspect, I think I did touch on how organized religion is declining and think that this kind of ritualistic connection, has been replaced by trying to connect through shared consumerism and/or other addictions. I also think the "loneliness epidemic" aspect has been widely discussed on youtube, how Americans especially are living increasingly isolated, car-dependent lives with no "third places" - so perhaps that's another reason I may not have made that the focus here.
But regardless I'm sure this is just the beginning of this investigation!
I have yet to finish the Johann Hari book that I'm working on but if I remember correctly, Robert Lustig also has "connect" as one of his 4 c's of happiness as well!
Yes, I identify with this a lot! I need to start meditating again because it helped me to confront and ultimately enjoy the "nothingness" instead of trying to fill it up with stuff. Thanks for putting these ideas out clearly and relateably. I'll check out Positive Wonder too...
Pursuit of Wonder! I enjoy their videos because many of them are told as a story.
I likewise need to start meditating!
@@Alexas.nobuyyear Pursuit of wonder! That's why I couldn't find it 🤦♀️
@EmmaLemmon no worries, I got you 🫡
This might be your best video (yet). It’s so spot on. I’ve talked about this briefly with a very good friend of mine not long ago… how we use shopping as one of our coping mechanisms in regards to existencial crisis, hopelessness about the future and opressive capitalism (this doesn’t even make much sense, but oh, well). And I came to the conclusion that this coping mechanism is almost as detrimental as drugs and other forms of physical harm.
I love exploring my existential dread so thank you for this video! I do find myself consuming more (shopping, youtube, or food) whenever im mentally struggling. Eventhough i know it won't fix the problem, i still find myself indulging in these habits 😂
Your video is thought provoking. It hits close to home... I have to let this sink in and watch your video again..
Checked back in. And glad I did! This one is just plain profound! Moving ever closer but with supreme deliberation from simple but important ideas to more and more deep and consuming( ha! ha! 🙄) ones!
Aw, thank you - you're always welcome to come and go here, happy to chat with you when you stop by!
A kind response!
Here for the philosophy, but the Don Juan clip at the start sure gave me audition flashbacks! 😅
Haha same...I'm forever woodshedding that one
I think about death and experience existential dread multiple times a day and am so glad you're touching on this. One of my urges to consume comes from the fear of my loss of youth, which in my opinion is a form of death: the death of my young self. Ie. Won't I, at 70, regret not having worn cute clothes while my body is healthy and young and still traditionally beautiful? Thankfully nowadays I'm trying to do so in a sustainable way, but I still struggle with FOMO.
This is interesting! What I hear more commonly expressed as a regret of that nature, is regretting feeling like you "couldn't" wear something or do something because of some insecurity or fear of judgement when younger, because when we are older we realize we looked great and if others don't like it it's their problem. So my approach is that as long as we aren't holding ourselves back, we aren't going to be lacking.
Also honestly at 70 I picture myself having much the same style as I do today, maybe that's just a "me" thing since a lot of my clothes are fairly shapeless, but I do imagine that I will still want to look "cute" when I'm 70, too!
Great video, so interesting to hear your though process on this so-very-broad topic. I agree with a lot you have to say, and I definitely agree that this is a difficult time, a time where a lot of people no doubt are feeling a sort of existential crisis. And for decades in the West consumerism has been promoted and adopted as a way to make us feel a little better about our lives. (And make no mistake, much of what we consume *has* made our lives better, sometimes immesurably so. Refrigerators! Hot showers! Modern life is amazing in so many ways, so we don't want to turn our backs on "stuff", but like you said, we can't expect that stuff to fill every psychological void and ease every psychological tension that we have.
Absolutely! There's all sorts of questions about where to reasonably draw the line, what kinds of human advancements might be "good or bad" - refrigerators and hot showers, yes! Why eschew those? Modern medicine, yes, although some will disagree with that, I think it has opened up a wealth of positive choice for humanity. Space travel, sure, seems like that will be necessary, and is fascinating to gather more info about where we live. Smartphones, cars, social media...? Kind of? We can't live without many of their features these days but they've brought a new landscape that's hard to navigate without being swept up one way or another (time, consumerism, judgement, environmental consequence, etc) - and then it has also led to the manufacture of products that arguably no one actually needs, but since they exist, you can't tell anyone they're not allowed to buy (looking at stuff like stanley cup accessories, which present on social media like some kind of Barbie for adults, or anything that's so cheap that it becomes a single-use product even though it's not meant to be, like fast fashion, or some decor).
It's so weird because my husband and I were literally talking about all this last night. Thank you for this video!
Love those moments of simultaneous thought!
Wow this video goes really deep. It does make a lot of sense but there must be more to it. We are missing something that is over shadowed by consumerism.
Yes! I feel like this is a tip-of-the-iceberg kind of chat, I might have to be further removed from consumer culture myself (more than just a year of consciously trying and observing) to get to more of the full story...but I'm committed to the path!
" The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity! " The best need conviction now!
I hear you!
Thanks for that! 🙏
makes me think of buddhist's pursuit of living without desire
I want to look into the Buddhist philosophy!
Wow! Brilliant 🤯🤯🤯 This is such a fabulous episode - wowowowow ! You should also have a podcast and talk about and to people exploring these questions - or just talk to regular everyday pople about it (not the slick dudes who are ‘thought leaders’ 🤢 trying to sell you things) LOVE this episode!
Thank you! I'm thinking about re-organizing the channel and releasing one of the weekly videos in podcast form next year - definitely don't have the know-how to work with guests remotely yet, but it's all a learning curve so you never know! I could look into cornering some everyday people with questions about consumerism, that would actually be super interesting 👀
Sadly, I tend to the extreme side of existential crisis. Due to depression, I often feel an inherent sense of meaningless anyway. But this must not necessarily be only a bad thing. It also touches the things you talk about in your videos. I am not someone who hustles all the time. I also hate bucket lists. Because as you said, of course I want to do certain things and it is nice - but it doesn't define my self worth if it doesn't happen. I used to put so much pressure on myself to achieve certain things (or even to want things others my age want), but now I think that some things don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Yes! I think pursuit of contentment in spite of possible meaningless, IS one of the good things that comes from exploring these kinds of crisis mentalities, or one of the ways we can gain perspective amidst all the "noise" that surrounds us in society
Brilliant, as always, thank you! I wonder if the convenience of modern living is also contributing to our Existential dread because it leaves us feeling so removed from the earth and the food that sustains us. I know that for me, it feels precarious to depend on something so far outside my locus of control. That might just be because I was raised by people that don't really trust the larger systems 😅
Yes! I suspect (partly from my time living in New Zealand) that being closer to nature does lead to greater happiness and a more laid-back culture. As I get older I feel more of the urges to grow my own food and etc...I think what you said about larger systems is interesting too, because it might also feel different if we got the sense that large corporations actually cared about those they serve, not just as a bottom line. If I believed Walmart or Amazon cared about my well being, shopping from those companies might feel mutually beneficial or a symbol of connection rather than total disconnect. I wonder if that's possible with any business past a certain size...
No buy decade ❤
Yeah tbh becoming religious* has given me a peace of mind nothing else has been able to give me. And before I'd had a major existential crisis on vacation about that exact thing you were talking about, the "there is no point to life and everything will end up in eternal nothingness anyway." So the difference is really obvious to me. Even with religious differences causing so much of the pain and destruction throughout history it's plain to see that having a tight knit community of people with similar values in your life, along with a strong moral code that helps direct your life, is really beneficial. I've determined that my being religious is of inherent value whether or not G-d is real.
*I'm still agnostic too but Judaism tends to put more value on action than faith!
I totally get this and what you said at the end is pretty powerful - whether one is religious or not - that being religious can have inherent value whether or not there is a "g-d"
I think you would enjoy the power of now by Eckhart Tolle.
He talks about consumerism and how it fuels the ego and keeps us in clock time and disconnected from the source/ the now. Once we are connected with the now we are content and can use things without projecting a future self or hanging onto the past.
You are right! This is one of books I keep after having read, (I'm going to post a "book declutter" soon which will show-and-tell all that 👀) as it radically opened my perspective at the time of reading it years ago. I hadn't yet gone through my period of "overconsuming" that sparked this channel though, so maybe I need to give it a re-read!
I recently re read it and it is really helping me enjoy this season of motherhood.
It's a bit farfetched to take recourse to a general collective existential crisis, understood as a collective response to the meaninlessness of life, in order to explain the contemporary consumer landscape of demand for convient comfort through shopping, hoarding, sharing, obsessing over, etc., when there are much simpler explanations such as boredom, loneliness, fomo, unhappiness, isolation, despondency, illusions, affluence, cheap credit, targeted marketing, etc., that fulfill the same function. The quotation you shared, namely, comes from a very distinct ideology that is anti-scientific at its core: the scientific discovery/description/explanation for human behavior "will be so terrifying... that we will go mad from the revelation or flee into new darkness." Is scientific study of human life and behavior so daunting that it leaves us with only these two options? Scientific discovery and knowledge has helped us in many ways, and we need more science, not less of it. Knowledge and wisdom are not opposites.One can cultivate a life of contententment without bashing science.
I think I get your point, and luckily I'm not solely taking recourse to this, and I have discussed aspects like loneliness, boredom, fomo, etc. in previous (and future!) videos!
Maybe part of the problem in communication here (if that's what your comment is indicating? apologies if I made an assumption here) is that I'm not at all familiar with the greater work of H.P. Lovecraft - an introductory biography I read said he was interested in science from a young age, so I wasn't alerted to the fact that his work was based in anti-scientific ideology or that to suggest that pursuing contentment in the face of realizing our own possible insignificance, had to be anti-scientific. I just found it to be a thought-provoking quote, not one I necessary believe to the letter.
Let me also be clear here that I in no way intended to bash science, or suggest that we should not pursue further discoveries in the fields of both knowledge and wisdom! I will also be the first to admit, that I myself am neither wise nor particularly knowledgeable in general - I claim above-average knowledge in playing the viola and the workings of classical music, that's about it 😄
@@Alexas.nobuyyear One of the pitfalls of an eclectic approach is the tendency to take thoughts out of their original context and apply them to entirely different contexts. This elevates them by giving them the appearance of general validity. Lovecraft's conext is nineteenth-century mysticism with a fixation on horror as a method of escapism from reality. It doesn't provide a good answer to the question of why today's society exhibits such a need and demand for instant gratification.
@CS-ly3lx sure! I guess that's a general pitfall of my channel since it has a focus on reshaping my thoughts and attitudes towards consumerism/buying stuff, which means I've related almost everything I share to that regardless if that was the intended purpose of the thinking or literature (or even experiences in my life! Many of those are taken out of context too, in a way).
In this case I had the thesis as an idea before I came across the quote, including the quote wasn't intended to provide an answer, or even validity to my idea that people experiencing existential dread or a lack of meaning in life, may turn to consumerist behaviors and a "yolo" attitude. I'm also not suggesting it's THE answer, just a possible facet for some people including myself. I also just saw another creator (Cara Nichole) do a video about "how consumerism and aesthetics are the new religion"...which is a similar concept even if I don't really agree with making the direct parallel to religion.
The source video for the quote I felt like was interesting and provided a sense of acceptance to existential dread which is why I mentioned it, but once again even that video takes the quote out of context.
Lesson learned, perhaps - I'll go read some Lovecraft before I share any more of his quotes!! 😊
Great video great ideas to consider but no solution except self control 😔
Sorry! I guess I wasn't necessarily trying to offer comprehensive solutions in my initial exploration of this idea 😅- but allow me to offer some more in response here! So, self-pursuit of contentment is still a solution I'd consider, but additionally there are other things, like pursuing more connection to our home (Earth, nature) and the other people in our communities - connection, shared experience, getting closer to other aspects of humanity, finding a creative pursuit that we feel adds to the world, or even pursuing further knowledge and understanding in a field that interests you - for some people religion IS a solution as well!
@Alexas.nobuyyear thankyou
I never thought I'd see an H.P. Lovecraft quote on this channel. Maybe there are some parallels to be drawn between hyperconsumerism and Shadow over Innsmouth!
Ooh - I shall add that to my reading list!
I meant it as a joke, but I still recommend it! But, if you are not a fan of horror with weird monsters, it might not be for you. :)@Alexas.nobuyyear
@@Alexas.nobuyyear Be aware that his books contain a lot of his own xenophobia and racism.
@@Lemonrollcake thank you for the warning - more reason to wait and borrow rather than buy any of his books!
You CAN buy your way out of existential crisis... with drugs!
😵